Category: humanities

-by Brittney Glinsbockel and Ivy Waite In grade 4 Humanities this term, students have been examining events that are relevant to Alberta’ History. To begin with, as a class, students examined posters advertising settlement to Canada’s west and activated prior … Continue reading Grade 4: Examining Alberta’s History, Part 1

Earlier this school year, Grade 8 Humanities Teacher Jaime Groeller worked with her students to purposefully engage them in Active Reading. Below is an excerpt from her class blog around “Talking to the Text”. Inspired by a student video created … Continue reading Talking to the Text

It has been a little while since we have posted some of the work that happens at Connect. In this latest installment of our video series, “Inquiry Lives Here”, three examples are shared. 1. Voice Your Vote – Grade 9 … Continue reading Inquiry Still Lives Here!

by Rick Fawcett – Grade 7 Humanities The Grade 7 Humanities teachers are supporting students in the creation of powerful documentaries that communicate an important aspect of their family’s history. Using the iMovie program, students have included personal interviews and … Continue reading Grade 7 iHistory Projects – Trailer #1

-by Heather Fawcett and Jessica Kelly Through their guided research, students have compiled a wealth of information on an important element of Alberta’s history. So, now what? Determining what information is important is a valuable research skill and this is what students are now doing. By giving students the challenge of creating songs, they must make some thoughtful decisions about what information is included in the lyrics. The success of their song hinges on their ability to extract the information that matters most, so sorting it all out is a crucial step in the process. Students are beginning the song … Continue reading Grade 4 Folk Song Unit: Making Alberta’s History Sing (Part 3: Sorting Out)

by Heather Fawcett and Jessica Kelly In Part 1 of “Making Alberta’s History Sing”, students were tuning in to topics for their folk song projects. Part 2 of the project challenges students to assert their research and questioning skills by compiling information on a chosen historical topic. After a full day of exploring the various exhibits at the Glenbow, students had a variety of observations and questions about what they experienced. Through a teacher-led class brainstorm, everyone shared the topics that they found particularly interesting. The next step was to conduct some research into each of their options to see … Continue reading Grade 4 Folk Song Unit: Making Alberta’s History Sing (Part 2: Finding Out)

by Heather Fawcett and Jessica Kelly The Grade 4 Humanities teachers at Connect Charter School are currently designing an exciting unit of inquiry that provides students with an opportunity to create folk songs that communicate a story from Alberta’s rich history. The design of this unit incorporates a number of Social Studies and English Language Arts curricular elements while also challenging students to express their knowledge and understanding through creative channels. Technology will play an integral role in the process and students will work directly with expert singer/songwriters to create folk song lyrics from their independent research findings. It’s an … Continue reading Grade 4 Folk Song Unit: Making Alberta’s History Sing (Part 1: Tuning In)

Jody Pereverzoff and Chris Dittman – Grade 7 Humanities In our last blog post, we described the genesis of our Grade 7 Humanities project focusing on early Canadian (pre-confederation) history. We left off with students having just determined the most historically significant event in their debate group, each of which consisted of 4-5 students, each seeking to prove the historical significance of their specific event. We were left around 5 events in each of the 4 classes. Our focus now was to return to our original inquiry question; Why do so many Canadians know and care so little about our … Continue reading Grade 7 Canadian History: Post 2